Rocks, Weathering, and Erosional Landscapes

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Context

Audience

Introductory geomorphology course for second year students. The only prerequisite is physical geology.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

They should have retained from their introductory geology course a basic knowledge of how to classify rocks and minerals and read topographic maps. This lab assumes that students remember how to determine the properties of minerals and identify the textures of rocks.

How the activity is situated in the course

This is the first lab of the course. It's is designed to help students transport basic skills acquired in the introductory physically geology course and apply them to geomorphology.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Students will identify principal rock forming silicate minerals and distinguish their relative stability when exposed to weathering; identify sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks and deduce the relative resistance based on mineral composition and texture;and finally relate erosional landscapes to the differential weathering and erosion of rocks of varying strengths.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Interpret lithology from topography.

Other skills goals for this activity

Description of the activity/assignment

Students will identify principal rock forming silicate minerals and distinguish their relative stability when exposed to weathering; identify sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks and deduce the relative resistance based on mineral composition and texture;and finally relate erosional landscapes to the differential weathering and erosion of rocks of varying strengths.
Designed for a geomorphology course

Provenance: Sean Fox, Carleton CollegeReuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.

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